Unique Tomato Tops in Disease-Fighting Antioxidants

The distinctive red color of tomatoes is due to lycopene, a member of the carotenoids family, which is thought to have a number of health benefits, such as reducing the risk of developing cancer, cardiovascular disease and macular degeneration. A new study, however, suggests that a special variety of orange-colored tomatoes provide a different form of lycopene, cis-lycopene, which our bodies may more readily use. Researchers at the Ohio State University (OSU) found that eating spaghetti covered in sauce made from these orange tomatoes, called Tangerine tomatoes, caused a noticeable boost in cis-lycopene in participants' blood.

“While red tomatoes contain far more lycopene than orange tomatoes, most of it is in a form that the body doesn't absorb well,” said Steven Schwartz, the study's lead author and a professor of food science and technology at OSU. Lycopene absorption from the tangerine tomatoes was 2.5 times higher than that absorbed from the beta carotene-rich tomatoes. While these special tomatoes were grown just for this study, the researchers have pre-commercial lines of both varieties available.

The news release is available at http://researchnews.osu.edu/archive/goodtom.htm.